WEDNESDAY UPDATE / Border Talks Called Off as Tensions Rise #Vietnam

[geovalin]

EXCLUSIVE: Border Talks Called Off as Tensions Rise

Sunday, 05 July 2015; News by Khmer Times/Tin Sokhavuth

KHMER TIMES (Phnom Penh) – Negotiators from Cambodia and Vietnam were scheduled to meet today for talks over disputes along their 1,228 km mutual border. But after a rocky weekend – with Hanoi’s state media criticizing Cambodia and a new Cambodian group confronting Vietnamese police at the border – the bi-national border talks were suspended.

A three-day meeting of the Cambodia Vietnam Joint Border Committee was to start in Siem Reap today. But now it is delayed for “technical reasons,” according to a high-ranking source in the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Committee Members in the Dark

The cancellation was so last minute that two committee members were in the dark until a Khmer Times reporter called them Sunday. Committee member Kuy Pesey said she had been told that the meeting was switched from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.

read more: http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/12921/exclusive--border-talks-called-off-as-tensions-rise/

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Activist in altercation at border

Sun, 5 July 2015

Meas Sokchea

A Cambodian child rights activist is currently recovering following an incident on Saturday in which he was allegedly severely beaten, detained and eventually released by Vietnamese authorities after attempting to bring a student group to a border post in Svay Rieng’s Kampong Ro district.

Though details surrounding the arrest remain hazy, Phen Bunthoeurn was reportedly bringing 43 students to visit border marker 202 in Kandal village, nearby the scene of a brawl last month between Vietnamese and Cambodian citizens in which 12 people were injured.

However, before he could even reach the post, Bunthoeurn was arrested and reportedly beaten with a shovel handle, and later detained overnight in Vietnam.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/activist-altercation-border

[wabothai]

ASEAN?

[Srikcir]

Thailand may soon become the Hub of a Missing ASEAN Community.

[anon4546543]

Yes ASEAN. Cannot talk about border disputes lest we first engage and enrage C***a.

[tajtom]

Asians anythings possible

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Cambodia's Hun Sen Asks For UN Map to Help End Domestic Dispute Over Border With Vietnam

Hoping to settle internal arguments over alleged territorial encroachment by Vietnam, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen asked the U.N. on Monday for the loan of a map prepared decades ago by France to compare with maps currently used to demarcate the border.

The request came following clashes between Vietnamese villagers and Cambodian activists in disputed territory and as opposition political figures accused the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of using maps drawn by Vietnam, which invaded and occupied Cambodia in 1979.

Writing to U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on July 6, Hun Sen asked for use of the map, which was prepared by colonial ruler France over the years 1933-1953, so that he can end “incitement” by nationalist forces in Cambodia and confirm the integrity of his government’s efforts to fix the border’s proper boundaries.

Opposition lawmakers and NGOs applauded the move while calling on the government to include them in the process of comparing the U.N.’s map with those currently in use.

“If the government verifies this on its own, we won’t know if those maps are accurate,” Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) parliamentarian Um Sam An told RFA’s Khmer Service on Monday.

'A possible solution'

Phnom Penh-based Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee Suon Bunsak also welcomed the government’s move, calling the U.N. map a possible “solution” to ongoing arguments in Cambodia.

“This will clear all doubts and resolve our border problems with neighboring countries,” he said.

Council of Ministers spokesperson Phay Siphan meanwhile called Hun Sen’s letter to the U.N. an “historic event,” adding that its use in verifying the accuracy of maps already being used will help the Cambodian people to better understand the border issue.

All political parties now holding seats in Cambodia’s National Assembly, the country’s parliament, will be allowed to participate in a committee put together to examine and compare the maps, he said.

Ongoing border issues between Cambodia and Vietnam led to clashes at the end of June when Vietnamese villagers attacked and beat Cambodian activists who were inspecting a disputed area, Cambodian opposition party CNRP said.

But Vietnam’s foreign ministry released a statement on July 1 saying that Vietnamese security officers and local residents had tried peacefully to stop the activists and “reason” with them, but were attacked themselves instead.

Reported by Sek Bandith for RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.

source: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/map-07062015173648.html

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Border meet held ahead of large protest

Wed, 8 July 2015

Meas Sokchea and May Titthara

Cambodian and Vietnamese officials yesterday met at the Council of Ministers to discuss rising border tensions, as villagers in Tbong Khmum province again reported Vietnamese authorities had destroyed crops in the disputed area.

Officials declined to reveal details of yesterday’s Joint Border Committee meeting, called to discuss recent tensions and ongoing border demarcation.

Concluding tomorrow, the talks, involving 25 officials from both sides, are led by Cambodia’s senior minister in charge of border affairs, Va Kim Hong, and his Vietnamese counterpart, Foreign Affairs Deputy Minister Ho Xuam Son.

read more: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/border-meet-held-ahead-large-protest